


Captain Becker's Day Off

by celeste9



Series: Promise [36]
Category: Primeval
Genre: Action/Adventure, Dinosaurs, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-31
Updated: 2014-01-31
Packaged: 2018-01-10 17:31:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1162528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celeste9/pseuds/celeste9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Becker has elected to spend his day off with David. All things considered, it could have gone better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Captain Becker's Day Off

**Author's Note:**

> For 'kidfic' in Primeval Denial bingo and Trope Bingo. This gives me a blackout in Primeval Denial bingo! Thanks to fififolle for the beta.

It was Becker’s day off. David was coming to spend the weekend with them and Becker had thought it might be nice to get him early so they could spend the afternoon together, just the two of them. Perhaps it might make up for the last time David had been over, when he had spent most of the weekend puking his guts out.

And then Lester had, too. It wasn’t one of Becker’s better memories.

This would be good, though. It would be the first time Becker spent any significant time alone with David, without Lester being in the next room.

Becker was slightly terrified. Not that he’d ever admit it.

He was determined, however, to persevere. David was a great kid and he was young enough still that his opinion of Becker essentially boiled down to hero worship and an easy affection. Becker figured he might as well take advantage of it as long as it lasted, because eventually he would end up a resentful, moody teenager, just like his siblings.

The thought was enough to make Becker shudder. He blocked it from his mind. And anyway, surely David could never be as bad as Henry.

Lester was at the ARC all day and wouldn’t meet them until dinner. Becker couldn’t quite make up his mind as to whether he was sure Lester was stopping himself from texting every five seconds or whether he wasn’t giving them a second thought. The latter would mean he trusted Becker to handle everything. That would be nice. Becker just wasn’t certain Lester could have that much faith in him while Becker was this nervous about something going wrong.

He pulled up outside Agatha’s house and got out, not letting himself worry any more. Whatever happened, he’d take care of it. That was what he did. This wasn’t any different. He was only responsible for Lester’s beloved son. Nope, nothing to worry about at all.

It occurred to him that this was what his life had become - using his time off to bond with his partner’s children. It wasn’t quite where he had envisioned his life going, but, well. There were a lot of perks involved.

Becker knocked, hearing the dog barking inside.

After only a moment, Agatha pulled the door open, wisps of hair fluttering free from her loose ponytail. “George, sit,” she commanded, as the dog did his best to greet Becker.

George sat, wagging his tail incessantly. Becker patted him, making sure to scratch behind his ears the way he liked. George’s rump wriggled with the power of his enjoyment.

Agatha beamed at Becker. “Hello, darling, just give us a minute.” She turned towards the stairs to shout. “David, are you ready? Hilary’s here!”

David’s voice drifted down from upstairs. “One second!”

“Don’t forget to give George fresh water before you go!”

“I know, Mum, I already did,” David shouted, annoyance seeping into his tone.

Becker bit back a grin as he looked at Agatha.

“This is so sweet of you,” she said. “David’s been talking about it all week.”

Becker shrugged. “I was getting bored on my own, anyway.”

“Yes,” Agatha said with a smirk. “I imagine most of your favourite activities for days off don’t work without James.”

A flush crept up the back of Becker’s neck.

Agatha laughed and squeezed his arm. “You are too cute for words, darling.”

Thankfully, David chose that moment to come clattering down the stairs, pulling his bag over his shoulder. “Ready! Let’s go!”

George abandoned Becker for David, bounding over to him. David bent down to squeeze him, getting a lick on his face for his trouble.

Becker was faintly grateful he’d avoided that particular ministration.

“Have you got everything?” Agatha asked. “Pyjamas? Change of clothes? Mobile?”

“Yes, Mum,” David said, rolling his eyes.

He stood still and let Agatha kiss his cheek as she said, “Okay, then. Be good, have fun, see you Sunday! Goodbye, Hilary.”

“Bye, Agatha, I’ll ring you if there’s any trouble,” Becker said, following after as David raced out the door towards Becker’s car.

“Have you been into your mum’s coffee?” Becker asked, watching David practically bounce into the passenger seat.

“Gross,” David said, making a face. “Might’ve had some Coke, though.”

“Fantastic.” A caffeinated, over-excited child was exactly what Becker needed.

“Are we going to see a film first? Can we? Please?”

Becker was mildly impressed that David had remembered to say ‘please’. He wondered if that was down to Agatha or Lester. “If you like, yes.”

They went to see _The Hobbit,_ which was the sort of film Becker liked to deny admitting he had a desperate need to see. It was also the sort of film Lester would be a pain in the arse about seeing, like it was beneath him, though Becker knew that if he bought the DVD Lester would be reluctantly transfixed (which he’d never admit to, of course). So it worked out for everyone, really. Plus, there was enough action to keep both Becker and David entertained without being so horrifically violent that Lester would veto it.

Afterwards David wanted to dissect the whole thing and Becker mostly let him ramble on. He hadn’t read the book himself since he was a kid, so admittedly most of it flew right over his head. Still, David didn’t seem to mind so long as Becker nodded and made the occasional sound at appropriate intervals. It was amusing, really.

Honestly, it was just like Lester when he got going, though Lester generally didn’t get quite so animated. Nor would his topic of choice be a kid’s fantasy novel turned blockbuster film.

“Can we get ice cream?” David said without warning, the question nearly lost in the babbling stream about _The Hobbit._

“Ice cream? But you’ve just had a huge popcorn! Your dad will kill me if I let you eat this much crap before dinner.”

David shrugged. “I won’t tell him.”

“Isn’t a bit cold for ice cream?” Becker tried instead.

“Never too cold for ice cream.”

“Okay,” Becker said, inwardly wincing at the giant pushover he had apparently turned into.

“You’re the best,” David said with a huge grin, and Becker decided he didn’t care. Becker the Giant Pushover was an entirely acceptable fate.

He pulled the car into a car park so they could get out and walk to the c _afé_ nearby that Becker just happened to know did a very nice line in Italian ice cream. Not that Becker dragged Lester there every chance he got, or anything. They hadn’t got far before a stream of people came running down the pavement towards them, some of them doing their best to cut through and get into the buildings while others seemed too panicked to do more than run.

Becker grabbed David and swept him off over to the side before they got trampled. “What on earth?” he said, though he had a sinking feeling that he knew exactly what was going on.

On his day off, too. Becker wasn’t even surprised.

David pulled free of Becker and took a few steps away from him, too curious for his own good. “What are they running from?”

The shouts of ‘monster!’ let Becker know his suspicions had been correct, even before he saw the dinosaur. It was huge, probably three metres tall and more than twice that long, with the large teeth and tiny forelimbs of a Tyrannosaurus, but its snout and jaws were longer and it had a big, hooked claw on each of its thumbs. The claws were dripping blood.

It seemed caught, too many interfering noises vying for attention. David was standing in place, transfixed, far too close for Becker’s comfort.

“David,” Becker said quietly, “don’t say a word. Come by me, okay? Just walk slowly over to me.”

To his credit, David did as told. Keeping his eyes glued to the dinosaur, he backed away from it until Becker could seize his shoulders.

Becker bent down slightly and turned David to face him, drawing his gaze. “Go into the nearest building. Phone your dad. Okay? Can you do that for me?”

“What are you going to do?”

“My job.”

David’s eyes looked huge and scared, his skin pale. “Hils--”

“Everything’s going to be fine. Just do as I ask.” Becker could only hope that the ARC team was well on its way. Later, when he had the luxury, he would probably be furious at Lester (because undoubtedly it was his influence) for stopping them letting him know about an alert.

Watching to ensure David did as he was told, Becker then devoted his attention to the dinosaur. With no gun and considering the fact that nothing less was going to do any good at all, Becker knew there was little he could do by way of actually stopping the thing. Instead, he started going through and sweeping panicked civilians into the buildings, where they would hopefully be somewhat more protected.

His actions must have attracted the attention of the dinosaur because it started coming for him, stomping along the street and crushing what was in its way. The woman nearest Becker began to scream.

He grabbed her, clamping his hand over her mouth and pulling her over to the wall. “Quiet,” he hissed, keeping perfectly still.

The woman seemed to catch on because she stopped struggling and went limp and silent. The dinosaur passed them by much too close, the stink of its breath nearly unbearable. It moved into the street, attracted by someone leaping out of his car in an attempt to run through the partially blocked street.

There was no time for Becker to do anything. He turned away and instead pushed the woman gently towards the closest door. “Inside,” he said.

She nodded frantically, mouthing, “Thank you, thank you,” and ran through the door, her heels clicking on the pavement.

That was when Becker saw the ARC vehicles arrive, stopping farther down the road, as close as they could get. “Thank fuck,” Becker said, watching the soldiers pile into the street, EMDs trained on the dinosaur.

“Russ!” Becker shouted, racing to them. He figured the risk was worth it, considering the dinosaur had a lot more to draw its attention now than one lone person.

The lieutenant tossed him an EMD, saying, “Glad you could make it, boss.”

“I’ve been here,” Becker said, taking aim at the dinosaur and firing. “Just waiting for you lot to get your thumbs out of your arses.”

Against the volley of fire, the dinosaur stood no chance. It swiped ineffectually at the men as it began to lose consciousness, and then toppled over.

Becker walked closer and nudged it in the side. “This one’ll be fun to move.”

“Connor and them went to locate the anomaly,” Russ informed him. He paused for a moment, listening, and then said, “Ah, they’ve closed it. On their way back here now to help with the clean-up.”

Catching sight of a small figure on the pavement, Becker started to say, “Russ, can you--”

Following his eyeline, Russ said, “No worries, boss, we can handle this. You’re still off-duty, technically, anyway.”

“Thanks.”

“In any case, got to give your kids priority, don’t you?” Russ was smirking.

“Fuck off,” Becker said and went over to David. “David, I told you to go inside!”

“I was,” David said, his eyes wide. “Only I wanted a better view, and I wasn’t in danger, honest, I could have run to the door if it saw me. I was on the phone with Daddy until we lost reception.”

“Well,” Becker said, hesitating. “You were fine this time, but what would happen if every soldier received an order and said to himself, well, I think I’ll do this instead?”

“I guess that wouldn’t be very good,” David admitted.

One last Range Rover pulled to a screeching stop and Lester flew out of the door. “David!” he yelled.

“Here, Daddy!” David said, darting away from Becker.

Lester held his arms open and David ran to him, letting Lester engulf him in a hug. “David, my God, are you all right? You aren’t hurt?” He pulled away enough to get a good look at his son, stroking his hands over David’s hair and then his shoulders and down his arms, like he was checking for damage.

“No, Daddy,” David said, beginning to squirm away. “It was brilliant! There was a real live dinosaur, and Hils was amazing! It looks ever so different watching him on the telly.”

“Oh, David,” Lester said, breathing a nervous laugh. “You scared the life out of me, and your mum might never let me have you over again, but I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.”

“I wasn’t scared at all,” David insisted, perhaps too vehemently. “I knew Hils would never let it hurt me.”

“No, I suppose he wouldn’t.” Lester touched his hand to David’s cheek one last time and then looked around him. “Emily?”

Emily came over to them. “Yes?”

“Take my son to be checked over, will you? I want to be certain there’s--”

“Daddy,” David complained. “I told you, I’m fine! It never came near me at all.”

“Yes, I’m sure. Do as you’re told. This is Lady Emily, she’s very nice and she’ll take good care of you while I see to Captain Becker.”

“Oh, fine,” David huffed.

Emily was gazing doubtfully at him but she never failed to rise to a challenge. “Come along, then,” she said.

“Why are you called Lady Emily?” David asked as they went off.

“Because I’m terribly important,” Emily told him, quite seriously.

Becker held back a laugh and looked at Lester. “So that isn’t quite how I imagined my first solo trip out with David would go.” It was pretty par for the course for a day off though, sadly.

Lester was staring at him, silently, and then, with no regard for their surroundings, grabbed him and planted a kiss full-on Becker’s mouth. Becker was mostly too startled to do anything but stand there.

It was only a moment, though, and then Lester pulled back and said, “Thank you.”

“Yeah,” Becker said, inexplicably uncomfortable. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I... I love him, too.”

Lester smiled faintly. “I know.”

Becker cleared his throat and glanced around for the medic, Walker, and David. What he saw made him burst into surprised laughter. “My, someone’s found a kindred spirit, I think.”

Turning to look, Lester sighed and said, “Oh, dear. I was hoping to put that off for as long as possible. Forever, perhaps.”

David was currently engaged in an animated discussion with Connor. Emily merely stood back and watched, the set of her mouth betraying her bemusement.

“Look at it this way,” Becker said. “You’ve just earned yourself another baby-sitter.”

**_End_ **


End file.
